Perhaps everyone will agree that military tricks in history occupy an important place. Often, it was a wise approach that made it possible to turn the tide of a battle or win a victory with little or no risk or loss of men. Moreover, this was used at all times - both legends and completely documentary reports serve as sources telling about such cases. That is why it will be interesting to know about them for every person interested in the history of the warrior.
What is this?
First of all, let's define what a stratagem is. There are many cases in the history of wars when talented warriors - from ordinary soldiers to generals - won victories, inflicting huge damage on the enemy and almost without incurring any themselves.
This was achieved in a variety of ways. Someone used a new, hitherto unknown weapon. Others studied the features of the area and used them as rationally as possible. However, the essence remained the same - the army won the war, or at least received some kind of advantage, solely due to the wisdom, experience and prudence of the soldiers.
Than the trickdifferent from treachery
Quite often military cunning and perfidy are called similar concepts. But this is not so at all. The definition of cunning used in wartime is given above. Treachery, although it pursues such a goal, usually has a slightly different mechanism. Most often it is based precisely on the deception of the enemy. Moreover, this is not a simple deception, but aimed precisely at the fact that the enemy does not doubt the honesty and nobility of the opponent.
For example, one side may offer the enemy to surrender the fortress and lay down their arms on the condition of saving lives. And after fulfilling all the requirements, the soldiers easily kill disarmed enemies. Of course, this can by no means be called a military ruse. This is treachery in its purest form. Alas, history knows many such cases. But the main thing is that the reader understands that treachery and military cunning are not the same thing at all.
Now let's talk about some interesting cases that have taken place in the history of mankind.
First use of chemical weapons
Officially, it is believed that for the first time chemical weapons were used by German troops during the First World War. Indeed, on April 22, 1915, the Germans used chlorine near the city of Ypres. As a result, 10 years later, in 1925, the Geneva Convention added chemical weapons to the banned list.
However, history knows many earlier examples of the use of chemistry as a weapon. For example, one of them was the military trick of the Persians.
It happened in the third century of ourera near the walls of the Roman city of Dura-Europos. It was attacked by the Persians, but the garrison, which consisted of well-trained soldiers who knew how the enemy treated prisoners, was not at all going to surrender.
When it was not possible to take the city by direct assault, the Persians used a tunnel. But this technique was quite famous, so the Romans expected it and immediately entered the tunnel, ready to attack the enemy. However, the Persians foresaw such a turn. Therefore, sulfur crystals and pieces of bitumen were laid in advance in the tunnel, which were set on fire in a timely manner. As a result, about twenty Roman soldiers died, suffocating from poisonous fumes.
It is not known how much chemical weapons helped the Persians, but they took the fortress, killed all the soldiers, and the civilian population, including women and children, were driven into slavery.
Empty Forts Strategy
There are many legends about Chinese military tricks. It should be noted right away that they mostly worked only against other Asians - in clashes with Europeans, the Chinese were regularly defeated. But still, it will be useful to talk about interesting cases.
In 195 AD, China was torn apart by internecine wars. The military leaders tried to snatch more power and went to any crimes for this. One day, fate brought together two generals - Cao Cao and Liu Bei.
The latter had an army of 10 thousand people. The first one had a much larger army, but, unfortunately, Cao Cao had to send most of the people to harvest rice - there were aboutthousands of warriors. And the commander clearly did not have time to pull off all the forces. Then he went to the trick - he removed all the soldiers from the walls, putting unarmed women in their places. Of course, the outcome of a collision is not difficult to predict. However, Liu Bei was taken aback by this approach. He immediately realized that the matter was not clean. Therefore, I decided to wait, camping a few kilometers from the walls of the fortress. The commander waited for about a day. Realizing that there really were no men in the fortress, Liu Bei led his army to attack. He did not know that Cao Cao had achieved his goal of winning the whole day. During this time, the commander managed to pull the troops, who took a place not far from the walls of the fortress. When the attacking detachment approached the fortifications, the ambush troops rushed at them and won.
Five fires per warrior
There are many legends about the military tricks of Genghis Khan. Perhaps today they may seem very primitive, but in their time they made it possible to achieve their goals.
For example, shortly before the battle with the Naimans, Genghis Khan had a relatively small army - one battle was enough to lose. Then the Shaker of the universe gave an order - at night, every warrior who wanted to warm himself had to light five fires. Seeing a field strewn with bonfires to the very horizon, the Naiman scouts reported to Khan Tayan: "Genghis Khan has more warriors than stars in the sky!" No wonder - usually five to eight people gathered near one fire. Thus, the Mongol conqueror visually increased his army by 25-40 times. As a result, the Naimans preferred to retreat, giving the enemythe opportunity to accumulate strength for victory.
Also, many historians attribute to military tricks the habit of Genghis Khan to use merchants as scouts. However, this is rather treachery - merchants and merchants have always been people who were not involved in armies, so no one suspected them of espionage.
How Golitsyn outsmarted the Swedes
Now let's talk about the Russian military stratagem. It was she who, combined with courage, endurance, physical strength and excellent preparation, often made it possible to win even in the most incredible fights.
A striking example is one of the episodes of the Great Northern War, when the Russian Empire was at war with Sweden, a very powerful enemy.
The battle took place near the Finnish village of Nappo. The Russian troops were commanded by Mikhail Golitsyn, and General Armfeld became his opponent. The forces turned out to be approximately equal - 10 thousand people on each side.
But ours had an advantage - they were on the defensive. And the Swedes went on a decisive attack, which was repulsed. While the enemy retreated in a hurry, the officers persuaded Golitsyn to pursue them in order to finish off the enemy. However, the wise strategist refused. Soon the Swedes went on the attack again and were again driven back. But Golitsyn still did not pursue the fleeing enemy. And only during the third wave, the Russian troops not only repulsed the enemy attack, but also launched a counteroffensive. As a result, we lost about 500 people, and the enemy - killed and captured - six times more.
When surprised subordinates asked the prince what he was waiting for, he answered simply - he was waiting for the Swedes to pack the snow. Indeed, going on the attack, sinking knee-deep, or even waist-deep into the snow, is not an easy task. It is much easier to pursue the enemy across a hard-packed area that has been crossed by an army of ten thousand men six times in a row.
The Capture of Simbirsk
An unpleasant stain in the history of the Russian army is the Civil War. A father who kills his son, a brother who shoots his brother is a truly terrible event. Therefore, tricks were used less often here - often both sides knew the area the same, did not have secret weapons, and even thought the same way. But still, one can recall certain military tricks of the white movement - for example, when taking Simbirsk.
Kappel Vladimir Oskarovich was a talented commander. His goal was to capture the city of Simbirsk. But then a problem arose - it was defended by a detachment of two thousand people under the command of G. D. Guy. And Kappel himself had only 350 fighters. He waited several weeks until large forces of the Czechoslovak corps began to float along the Volga. Of course, Guy expected that they would attack, so he prepared for defense. Kappel attacked from the rear, which the enemy did not expect at all. Thus, he managed to capture the city, defended by vastly superior forces.
How to stop tanks without firing?
The Great Patriotic War knows even more military tricks. Here, many people showed a certain ingenuity, and even lista small part of the feats accomplished thanks to them is simply impossible - one would have to write a multi-volume book. So let's talk about this one.
In 1941, our troops, alas, were forced to retreat from the well-trained German troops tested in Europe. Everything possible was done to at least a little delay an experienced and skilled enemy.
The next offensive was expected in the area of Krivoy Rog. Intelligence reported that several tanks would be transferred here with infantry support. There were no tanks and anti-tank artillery in this direction, and it was vital to detain the enemy - the success of the evacuation of the rest of the forces depended on this. Therefore, the task was assigned to a company of motorized riflemen. Armed, in addition to conventional weapons, with anti-tank grenades, the soldiers were left on the highway under the command of a young commander.
It was about a day before the enemy approached. And that means that the fighters had only 24 hours to live. The primary task in such conditions is to dig in. However, the commander made a strange statement, they say, the Germans are coming from Germany itself, and we have a bad road here. It is necessary to fill in the holes, and generally level the surface. As a result, he ordered the duffel bags to be released and slag to be dragged onto the road from a pile that turned out to be nearby - the case took place near the Kryvyi Rih metallurgical plant, which by that time had been successfully evacuated beyond the Urals.
The soldiers quite rightly doubted the commander's sanity, but did not discuss the order. In a few hours, all the duffel bags were torn on angularpieces of slag. But the road was covered with a thick layer for two kilometers.
The next day tanks appeared on the horizon. Eight vehicles escorted by infantry is a sure sentence for inexperienced soldiers without artillery support.
But the commander was calm and watched the movement of the enemy. Having traveled only a few hundred meters along the road covered with slag, one of the tanks stopped - the caterpillar was torn. A few minutes later, the same fate befell the rest of the machines. Trying to get them out of the way, the Germans damaged the tracks on the tow tank as well. Finding themselves without the support of equipment, the infantry chose not to continue the offensive.
And the commander sent a message to the authorities - the tanks were stopped without a single shot, after which he received an order to wait for the night and retreat.
The secret lay in the peculiarities of the slag - nickel slag formed during the production of high-alloy steel, in close contact with the metal of the tracks, quickly damaged them. And the commander had a higher education - a technician for cold metal working - and he knew about it. So, having put his knowledge into practice, he not only completed the combat mission, delaying the enemy’s advance for several days, but also did not lose a single fighter.
Why the Germans were afraid of our infantry
A certain skill also has the right to be called military cunning. By 1941, the Germans, having captured almost all the countries of Europe, had vast combat experience, unlike the Soviet soldiers. And at the same time, they firmly learned that the times of hand-to-hand fights are long gone. Now everything was decided by rifles and machine guns, which means accuracy andrate of fire.
However, when they visited the USSR, they had to quickly change tactics. The fact is that in the Red Army great attention was paid to hand-to-hand combat. Soldiers were taught to use anything as a weapon - a helmet, a belt, a rifle butt, a bayonet and, of course, a sapper shovel.
Even in the training manuals about the offensive, it was clearly written - to cease fire at a distance of 50 meters to the enemy's defense line, rapidly reducing the distance. At a distance of 25 meters, throw grenades, and then run forward as fast as possible to be in the trenches immediately after the explosion and finish off the discouraged, and sometimes wounded or shell-shocked enemy.
The Germans were not ready for this and almost always lost in hand-to-hand combat. The only exceptions were the green divisions of the SS, as well as the chasseurs. Well, the USSR had a worthy answer for them too - the paratroopers confidently beat the elite units of the Wehrmacht. This is how attention was paid to the physical training of fighters, training in hand-to-hand combat made it possible to win many battles with an experienced, strong and, no doubt, brave opponent, who decided that ordinary fights had long since become a thing of the past and were irrelevant in the middle of the twentieth century.
Screw cutters in Chechnya
Of course, military tricks were also used in Chechnya, one of the last conflicts where Russian troops took part.
An unpleasant surprise for many experienced militants was Vintorez - VSS (special sniper rifle). They were perfect for use in large cities. With a relatively short distancecombat (about 200 meters), the rifles turned out to be completely invisible - the survivors of the sniper's shot did not see the flash and did not hear the shot. Such a formidable weapon not only allowed two or three snipers to destroy dozens of enemies in a matter of minutes, but also sowed fear in the hearts of the enemy. Which is not surprising - they have always been afraid of snipers. And invisible and unrecognizable, they generally became real ghosts of war, which could not be resisted.
Conclusion
This concludes our article. In it, we tried to consider various historical aspects of military cunning. They also gave some of the most striking examples from different countries and eras, so that every reader understands that sometimes wisdom and the ability to correctly assess the situation are more valuable factors than the number and training of soldiers.
